JCM Survey 2016: The Joomla Community has spoken

These are times of change. The Joomla Community Magazine is moving forward. And to accomplish that, we needed to know the thoughts of the people who are part of this great community. In June we released the JCM Survey 2016. We got great feedback and some surprises. And now is the time to share these thoughts with everyone.

Helvecio "Elvis" da Silva

The JCM has been migrated to the latest version of Joomla and we are using the new Joomla Template that is used across all sites of the Project.

Next in line is planning the future of the magazine: its editorial line, marketing plans, the (re)creation of the JCM Team with regular authors and contributors. Possibly the template will be better adjusted to make it more magazine-like.

And to accomplish that, we need the help and the support of the community. We released a survey that was responded by 291 members. It was time to start asking some important questions around:

What is your overall perception of the magazine?

Starting at Very Bad, we had a total of 58.4% of answers leaning towards Very Good. On the other hand, we had only 21% leaning towards Very Bad and 20.6% in the middle. This is positive information but we need to look deeper into it to make the most out of this information. I believe the answers lie in the responses of the next questions.

If you read the JCM on a regular basis, what kind of articles do you enjoy the most?

As you can see, three out of foru topics are the clue to the reason why the community has a positive perception of the magazine: Tutorials (Learning Joomla), Project News (Project Status in a general way) and Feature Stories (Specific news related to Joomla).

Tutorials, by far, is the topic most enjoyed. I suspect that happens because of search engines results. Type your question in Google, for example, and chances are you will find your answer in the magazine first. As such, the magazine can be considered a reference and an invaluable asset for people looking for how-to's. I remember that more than once I found the aswer I was looking for through search engines in magazine article.

Project News and Feature Stories provide information on what is going on in and around the Project. The community wants and needs to be updated. It seems that the magazine is the first place they come to check on that.

Information is the keyword, here.

What is your perception in these areas at the moment?

Points that were taken in consideration were Template Design, Content, Structure, Navigation. If you look quickly, the community has a good perception in these areas. But let's take a closer look.

Note that the charts in al four areas have a triangle-like shape. Although Good stands out in all of them, No Opinion and Bad come up to the same level. From that we can see that the community has a neutral opinion on those areas, with the exception of Content, where Good really stands out.

Which age range are you in?

With 61.7% of our community ranging between 31-50, these members were born between 1966-1985. That is the period where people developed an interest in computers and then in the internet. A phrase that comes to mind is early adopters. What does that mean to the JCM?

As we previously noted that Information is what the community is most looking for in JCM, now I would dare to say that this information acts as a guideline to decision making for the majority of readers of the magazine. They come and find inspiration to their next Joomla-related needs.

But what about those below or above these age ranges? This presents a challenge: how do we get them to be more interested in the publication?

I live in...

We can see from these results that JCM has many more readers in Europe than in other parts of the world. The Americas gather a mere 27.6% of JCM readers. That leaves us with only 15.8 on the remaining parts of the globe. Does this reflect that Joomla is less known and used in these continents?

Once again I see the importance of keeping a steady editorial line that will appeal to audiences throughout the world, thus increasing the interest in the magazine and in Joomla.

How often do you read the JCM?

We have a lot of regular readers. That is good news. At the same time, I don't see we are getting new readers easily. This is one important challenge to be tackled.

When was the last time you read an article in JCM?

This question is a confirmation for the previous one. Results are similar, which is expected.

Would you recommend others to read JCM?

Despite all ups and downs, the high amount of Yes to these question show that readers are still glad about what they are getting and JCM has plenty of room to thrive again.

If you would like to make some considerations about JCM, please use the field below

This "question" was an opportunity for the community ventilate their feeling towards the magazine. We got lots of insightful feedback. Here are some highlights:

The magazine is stuck in time

The magazine is a great starting point when information is spread on different media

The magazine is not mobile-friendly

The magazine layout should be improved

The magazine should go through a reboot

Emphasis on encouraging the community to contribute

Improve the presence of JCM in social networks

Make it easier for contributors to create articles

The magazine is hard to find in joomla.org

Create a downloadable version

Create a printed version

More freedom to write

Separate languages

Include video-tutorials

Monthly newsletter with headlines

More good content in French!

Case studies and testimonials

Successful stories of people, businesses, teams

Content targeted to developers to stimulate contribution

Keep up the communication between JCM and its contributors

Tutorials, tutorials, tutorials!

So, here we are. The results are in and we will work on this information to move forward.

Is there anything else you would likd to add? Feel free to comment below.

Graphic and web designer, I use Joomla since 2005. Currently based in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, I run my own design studio - HLVC Design - as a consultant in web and graphic design, Joomla, Wordpress, Online Social Media and Online Marketing. Passionate about my work and Joomla, I'm always eager to find more and more about the system and share my knowledge with the community. Visit my profile at http://volunteers.joomla.org/joomlers/helvecio-da-silva- - -